Love & Inspiration: Thanksgiving Table Settings

Around here, Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday.  Both my son and my daughter love to come home and cook (how lucky am I?), stay up and visit all night, and “doll up” for guests.  I adore that we love to be together without the exchange of gifts, because isn’t spending time together the best gift of all? And we are always thrilled to welcome friends who have become family and this year is no different.

The highlight of my Thanksgiving entertaining is creating the tablescape.  Are you surprised? I adore selecting a new palette each year and surprising my peeps with a beautiful table.  Today I wanted to share not only my Thanksgiving table for this year, but a couple of other Thanksgiving tables I’ve loved…

Here is a view of my dining table for Thanksgiving 2014.

I am thrilled with my choice of fabrics (layered, of course). I started with my pressed ivory linen, then added a coral/orange burlap fabric and arranged a patterned fabric over all of it. I love the pop of color and the richness of the textures.

As I am planning my table design, sometimes I change the room where we will be dining. This year I set the table up in front of the fireplace.   We are expecting snow, so this will be nice and cozy.   I always coordinate the tablescape with the colors of the room…that goes for my ensemble too!

A view from above…I love the bright colors, do you?

A few years ago, I dreamed up this creative place card.  I found photos of all of our guests (at a variety of ages), copied them, and then mounted them on paint chip cards (an interior designer always has plenty of these on hand!). I love this shot of my Em, age 5 ~ it’s hard to believe she is 31 this year!

Can you believe this is me? I wore my hair short for many, many years…

Note the mix of formal gold rimmed china with whimsical plates on top.

I hope everyone can find their seat!

Another beautiful Thanksgiving/hoiday tableau I spotted this year is at La Petite Maison, a very stylin’ home store in downtown Hingham.  The owner, Nan, and her team have done an outstanding job with the seasonal decorations ~ as always.

Take a peek at this dining table dressed for the season and full of ideas.  I love the Venetian Marbled plates (hint hint) mixed with the amethyst~

The pillow compliments the place setting and invites the guest to sit for a while and enjoy conversation. I love that each person receives a tiny Christmas brush tree as a treat.

The violet and gold combination is oh so glam.

The entire table is so inviting, I wonder what Nan is serving?

Finally, one more of my favorite table settings, this one is from my first Thanksgiving in my new home. Looking at photos of this table brings back very warm memories of the day and also of many sentimental toasts to my new life.

I used formal china with feathered friends…

I love to use unexpected materials…

…like this garden globe that just happened to be in the right palette:

This year we sat in the actual dining space at my round table:

We had so many guests that I set another table in front of my art gallery wall.  I opted to use a different theme with different colors and plates.

This table even had tiny white lights!

We are ready for our Thanksgiving toasts…

This is one of the times of the year when you can truly speak from your heart.  Take the time to think about what you are thankful for ~ perhaps you may want to include your guests and mention extra special blessings you and your guests may have received this year…

Cheers to you and your family this Thanksgiving!

xoxo,

Pamela

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